Video: Using the Properties palette

In this movie, we'll look at the Properties palette. Properties are always available for any element that you create or select in a Revit project. Properties are very context-sensitive so depending on what you're doing, you are going to see very different things on the Properties palette. So I'd like to look at a few different scenarios with you here. In a file called Condo Unit, and it's included with the exercise files, but you could follow along in any Revit project, there are two contexts under which you'll see the Properties palette. One is when you're creating objects and another is when you select something that already exists. So for example, if I came up here to the Architecture tab and click on the Wall tool, what you'll see is in addition to all the context sensitive stuff that we covered in the previous movie about the ribbon tab and the Options bar, if we look over here on the Properties palette, you will see various properties that are specific to the wall that I'm about to create.

Find out how to create compelling architectural designs using the modeling tools in Autodesk Revit software. In this course, author Paul F. Aubin demonstrates the entire building information modeling (BIM) workflow, from creating the design model to publishing a completed project. The course also covers navigating the Revit interface; modeling basic building features such as walls, doors, and windows; working with sketch-based components such as roofs and stairs; annotating designs with dimensions and callouts; and plotting and exporting your drawings.

Using the Properties palette

In this movie, we'll look at the Properties palette.Properties are always available for any element that you create or select in a Revit project.Properties are very context-sensitive so depending on what you're doing, you aregoing to see very different things on the Properties palette.So I'd like to look at a few different scenarios with you here.In a file called Condo Unit, and it's included with the exercise files, but youcould follow along in any Revit project, there are two contexts under whichyou'll see the Properties palette.One is when you're creating objects and another is when you select somethingthat already exists.So for example, if I came up here to the Architecture tab and click on the Walltool, what you'll see is in addition to all the context sensitive stuff that wecovered in the previous movie about the ribbon tab and the Options bar, if welook over here on the Properties palette, you will see various properties thatare specific to the wall that I'm about to create.

So at the very top we have the Type Selector and you could see that thisparticular one is defaulting to a Generic 8" wall,but if I open that up, it is a rather long list and I could choose from manydifferent kinds of walls that I could draw.Beneath that I've got Location Line and what level I want to draw it on and theheight, and so forth.And if I started to draw, it would just simply draw objects using those settings.Now notice that while I'm in the midst of drawing all of the settings are grayed out.So if I wanted to change the settings I can do that but I have to press Escapefirst to get back to kind of get out of the current drawing mode and get back to the Properties.

So I'm still in the command, I could make changes, for example, I could choose adifferent kind of wall and then pick up where I left off and you'll see that thenew wall is a little bit thinner than the other wall.So you can certainly interact with the properties as you're drawing, and we'regoing to get into a lot more of the specifics on drawing walls in the latermovie. So don't go worry too much about those specifics at this time.I want to focus mainly on the interaction with the Properties palette at this time.So I'm going to Cancel twice now, Escape twice, to get out of that command, andI'm actually going to focus my attention now on some of the objects that arealready here in the model.

For example, here at the exterior wall, if I click on that, with it selected inaddition to our Modify tab that we saw before, if we look at our Propertiespalette now, you are going to see much of the same stuff that we just saw whenwe were creating a new wall. Here at the Type Selector, we've got the samechoices, and I could open this list up and I could actually even choose acompletely different type of wall, if I wanted to, like an Exterior InsulationFinish System wall.The wall did get slightly thinner, I don't know if you noticed that or not.

And if we were to look at it in another view, we would actually see that thefinish material has actually changed.We could change the Location Line of the wall or the heights or constraintsof the wall, any of those settings we could change directly on the Properties palette.But let's do one that's a little bit more evident.For example, I'm going to scroll down here and I'm going to double-click on theSouth elevation to open that view up and zoom in just a touch, and I'm going toselect this window right here now.If we look at the Properties palette, it tells me that this is a double casementwindow and it's on Level 1 with a Sill Height of 3 feet.

Now if I click right there, I can actually change that height directly here inthe Properties palette.So it's just another example of making that kind of a modification.So if I put in 2 here and I press enter, it doesn't appear like anything hasactually taken place.Well, you have to actually apply the change. Revit allows you to make multiplechanges on the Properties palette and then apply them all in one step.So you can do that in one of two ways, you can use this Apply button downhere and click it, and you'll see that will actually apply the change and movethe window, or suppose I wanted to change my mind and go back to 3 feet, Ican simply move my mouse away from the palette, and programmers like to callthis shifting focus.

So if we shift our focus away from the Properties palette that willautomatically apply the change.Okay, so those are the two ways that we can apply one or more changes.The next part of the palette I want to point out to is this little smalldropdown right here.Currently, it says Windows with a quantity of 1, so Windows is the category ofthe object we have selected, windows in this case, and I have one item selected.Now we're going to talk about selection in an upcoming movie but for right now,I'll just show you that if you use your control key and I'm going to over hereand use the control key and select this second window, this bay window here, youcan select an additional object, more than one object at a time.

And what we'll see here is it still says Windows because both of thoseitems share the same category, but now it says quantity 2, I have two windows selected.Now up here on the Type Selector, we see something a little different, it saysMultiple Families Selected.And that's because, at the moment, the two objects I have selected aretwo different families.Now we talked about the differences between category, family, and type in aprevious movie, so if you'd like to, you could go back and review that now.But we've got two separate families selected here and you want to be a littlecareful about this, because if I changed it like to something dramaticallydifferent 16' x 24" Fixed window, you will see that that has a pretty dramaticimpact on both of those windows.

May or may not be the most architecturally exciting change to make, so perhaps Imight want to undo that. I'm going to use my Undo icon right here, or you couldpress Control+Z on your keyboard.Now I'm going to return to the Level 1 Floor Plan, and look at a few otherexamples of that concept that I just talked about.So again, here's a plumbing fixture family, I select it, it says PlumbingFixtures here, it says Plumbing Fixtures here and the quantity is 1.I can hold down my Control key and select the second one and again I getmultiple families, because clearly a toilet and a bathtub are different from oneanother so they are two different families even though they share the samePlumbing Fixture category.

Now what would happen if you added a third or fourth item to the selection thatwas of a different category altogether?Well now it's going to say multiple categories are selected here and thischanges to just say Common.Now what's interesting about this is you'll notice this is a dropdown menu, soyou can actually open that up.And in addition to Common with a quantity of 3, you'll see that selectionactually contains 2 Plumbing Fixtures and 1 Wall.Now it also says Floor Plan Level 1 down there, so you will always have thecurrent view listed at the bottom of that list because the view itself, theFloor Plan in this case, also has properties.

So by choosing an item here off the list, I could edit the Walls properties andchange the kind of wall, make that a generic wall.I could choose the Plumbing Fixture properties, change something about those.Or I could go to the Floor Plan's properties and change something about theFloor Plan itself, maybe I want to change the scale of the Floor Plan or thelevel of detail that it displays.So the Properties is a multifaceted interface item that has many, many settingsthat we can interact with.

And the key to using it successfully is to pay close attention to these subtlelittle nuances in its behavior.So in some cases when you make a multiple selection, like perhaps I select thisinterior wall and then maybe this wall that we drew a few moments ago, whatyou'll see is that up here it still says that we've got basic walls there's morethan one type selected, in addition, some of these properties over here look alittle bizarre like particularly the Top Constraint here, it actually has blankedout implying that there is no setting.

What's really important here is, is want you to understand is that that actuallydoesn't mean necessarily that there's no setting.What it actually means is that there's more than one setting.So if you're not careful here, if you went in here, and made some change,like suppose I said Up to level 3, the impact of that change might actuallybe somewhat dramatic, if we switched to another view, because now I have justchanged the height of both of those walls, it may or may not be what I had intended.

So you need to pay close attention to not only what you have selected but thesubtle little clues that the Properties palette is giving you there in order tobe successful in your edits.

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